Hokoriaru Giafaito
Hokoriaru Giafaito (誇りあるギアファイト) is the 55th episode of Crush Gear Turbo. It was originally aired in Japan on October 27, 2002. Synopsis The nasty Ming Wu found out that Kouya joined Gear Pancratum, and he's going to try to tell everybody! Meanwhile the leaders of the Tobita Club and Si Xing Hu Tuan, Kouya and Ma Liang respectively are pitting against each other. Will Ming Wu succeed in disqualifying Kouya? Plot The episode begins with Kuroudo practicing kendo at the poolside and Kyousuke fixing his Dino Phalanx while listening to music. At the dining table, Jirou, Lilika and Kaoru are eating melon slices while talking about Kuroudo and Kyousuke who are about to face each other in the World Cup. Meanwhile, Kouya enters a Crush Gear training area located not far from the hotel. Just after he switches the lights on, he sees Ming Wu who comes to him and shows Kouya the evidence of the latter's participation in Gear Pancratum. Ming Wu tells Kouya that his participation is a major violation in the World Cup and is punishable by disqualification, and that Kouya has to lose to Ma Liang in order to save himself. Unknown to Ming Wu, a mysterious man is watching him when he goes out of the training area before the scene cuts to Takeshi receiving a phone call. Then at the Four Stars Team hotel, Ming Wu meets with the other members (Ma Liang, Lan Fang and Li Chun) about the next day's match. After Ming Wu leaves, the team members talk to each other before Ma Liang decides to go to the training area where he sees the sad Kouya crying at the ring. The match between Ma Liang and Kouya begins on the next day. During the first round Tiger Commander pushes Garuda Phoenix persistently until it runs out of power, resulting Kouya to score a default victory. The audience is not satisfied and boo about what happened in that battle. His teammates was asking if anything was wrong with Garuda Phoenix. Kouya denies this but supressed the threat Ming Wu imposed. As the second round begins Jirou told Kouya to use Shining Sword Breaker, Kouya still hesitated during the match due to the fact that he is traumatized after meeting Ming Wu (who shows the memory card before the duel) regarding Gear Pancratum. Kouya releases his Gear in a normal way. Seeing Kouya's expression, Ma Liang remembers what Kouya said to him in episode 53 before looking at Ming Wu who states that he has the upper hand. Ma Liang uses Tiger Commander's VT Chassis dash technique to blow Garuda Phoenix out of the ring, scoring a win for the Chinese Gear Fighter. Kyousuke scolds Kouya for hesitating and demanded him for answers. Kouya confesses to his teammates that he participated in Gear Pancratum during his absence and Ming Wu took photos of him as evidence against him in order to get the Tobita Club to get disqualified unless he loses. But admits he learned good things upon temporary involvement in those matches (especially convincing Cain to withdraw from Gear Pancratum). Despite this, the Tobita Club still accepts him and encourages Kouya to win and believe in himself without succumbing to Ming Wu's threat because they knew he did what he had to do. They also said they will back him up no matter what the cost that awaits him and will always be soulmates till the end with no blame attached to him. Before stepping in the ring, Lilika points out by the member's words he has nothing to be ashamed and to do them proud. In the third round Kouya uses the special spin release, to the shock of Ma Liang and Ming Wu. Both of the Gears are chasing each other until Ma Liang launches Tiger Commander's special attack, Paien Tenshenran (Flying Monkey Flying Wheels) which casts a high speed dash and later clinches Garuda Phoenix in mid-air. When Garuda Phoenix is nearly thrown out from the attack Ma Liang notices the spectators who are enjoying the battle. This makes him to use his special attack once again, and Kouya launches Shining Sword Breaker after Garuda Phoenix goes back into the ring. Kouya is emerged victorious until the match is interrupted with Ming Wu going to the GFA president's office with the reporters accompanying him. However, the mysterious man suddenly bumps over him and changes the memory card (without Ming Wu noticing) with Kuroudo in awe knowing his face. Ming Wu then pleads to Gina to disqualify Kouya for joining Gear Pancratum, and he inserts the memory card into her laptop upon being asked about the evidence. It turns out that Ming Wu presents a gallery of panda photos instead which leads Gina to think whether he is kidding her; and the reporters, the spectators and even Crush Gordon laugh over the incident leaving Ming Wu in total disbelief added with Kouya confused. Outside the arena, Takeshi thanks the mysterious man who is actually Eddie who is acting as a counterspy against Ming Wu. The episode ends with the battle of Kyousuke and Kuroudo which is about to begin. Trivia * If listened closely, the music that Kyousuke listens at the beginning of the episode is an excerpt from the instrumental part of the remix version of Crush Gear Fight!!. *Kouya breaks the fourth wall in this episode. When he mentioned his two-day absence, he was referring to episodes 51 and 52 prior to his return to the Club at the end of the latter episode *Wang Hu is the only member of the Si Xing Hu Tuan who does not appear (nor mentioned) in this episode's. *It is unknown why Takeshi wanted to save Kouya. Possibly since he did it for a good cause after stumbling across Sean Firestone to convince Cain to withdraw from Gear Pancratum after knowing how he connected his heart to his gear which was what Yuhya would have wanted him to do instead of vengeance (after Eddie Kobayashi witnessed it during his spy mission he informed Takeshi what had happened and Ming Wu is also trying to blackmail Kouya after knowing he took snapshots of him in which he would later remove the evidence). *Another possibility it could have been vengeance against Ming Wu for telling Kouya the truth of Yuhya's death despite Lilika and Takeshi's efforts to not let him know about it back in episode 48. *The file that Ming Wu kept of Kouya's participation in Gear Pancratum was later erased by Gina Firestone in episode 57 but under Takeshi's request. It is likely that Sean Firestone talked to Takeshi in secret to convince Gina to not disqualify him or tell it to the public for good reasons (Sean as a witness Kouya had been on a secret mission to fight Cain to stop him from gear destructions by fighting him by connecting his heart to him which would probably have convinced Gina to clear Kouya's name after learning his lesson). *Lan Fang had first discovered Ming Wu's true colours. She started to get disenchanted with him from that point on. Others will later follow the flow. Category:Episodes (Crush Gear Turbo)